Footie Fool on Twitter: Soccer’s Growth in the U.S. Seems Steady - NYTimes.com http://nyti.ms/9gP6D1 2010-07-24

Is the CSA is driving away our best and brightest?


Owen Hargreaves. Jonathan de Guzman. Just two international players who could have donned Canadian colours but choose, for one reason or another, not to. Perhaps that reason is the Canadian Soccer Association.

I’ve always been bitter about Hargreaves choosing to play for England over Canada. But a new interview with Hargreaves in Soccer360 is shedding some light on why he choose England over Canada. And after reading excerpts of the interview at the Globe’s On Soccer blog, I actually have a bit more sympathy for Hargreaves and his decision.

At the time, I was breaking into the Bayern team and the Canadian set-up was not well organized, it was not well run. I received a phone call to come join up in a camp and they basically threatened me if I didn’t come. I just thought if they really wanted something they would have not gone about it that way, and I don’t think it was handled really well.

Hargreaves was asked if the call he mentioned was from the Canadian Soccer Association.

The answer – Yeah. They called me up; I was 18 or 19 – and they wanted me to go to camp in British Columbia. It was a 12-hour flight and I was in the middle of breaking into Bayern’s first team, and I could not have gone away because it would have completely affected my entire career. I could not risk being away, especially just for a training camp, and they said, ‘If you don’t come then that’s that.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine, it is a decision you make and not me.’ I don’t think all the facts were known, but it’s not important because I can only tell my side of it and why I did something and I cannot please everybody.

So, here is this 18 year old kid, getting his shot at the big time and he gets flack from the soccer establishment in Canada for not flying in for a training camp? I’d have serious reservations about playing for an organization that treated me like that as well.

I am sure there is more to Hargraves history than this little insight. But, as we seem to be flailing wildly out of control in yet another World Cup qualifying campaign, it is becoming more apparent that when international caliber players make the decision not to play for Canada, they are actually making a decision not to play for the dysfunctional soccer establishment that is the CSA.

Information and Links

Join the fray by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.

Information
September 17th, 2008
5 Responses
Feeds and Links
Comment Feed
From This Author
Del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Categories
Canada

Other Posts

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Emanuel
Posted on:
January 20, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Ok, let's suppose that this is true. Did he also go on to explain why he was all set to make his national team debut with Wales (?), when he pulled out at the last minute after being called by England? I've been back and forth on this guy over the years but it seems to me that he wanted to play for the best team he could and that's exactly what he did. He's perfectly within his rights to do so, but be a man about it and tell the truth about your decisions.

Or maybe Wales also threatened him?

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
clintlalonde
Posted on:
January 20, 2009 at 4:54 pm

The problem I have with Owen's story is that little bits come out in drips and drabs and it is hard to see the full picture as to what happened. The truth (as it usually is,) is probably in the middle. Both sides blew it for whatever the reasons.

But regardless of Hargreaves, it is clear that there continues to be something fundamentally wrong with the CSA and it's relationship with the players. Especially after this WCQ where numerous players pointed fingers at the CSA (most recently Julian de Guzman, who refered to the CSA as a cancer).

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Lolo
Posted on:
February 7, 2009 at 8:54 pm

I have less of a problem with Hargreaves because he didn't get he had his dual citizenship pre-football. Although the whole Wales thing does cast him in a bad light. The de Guzman thing is completely different. He's not dutch, has no dutch family, no dutch roots, no dutch connections outside of football. He says he feels dutch and he owes that country because that's where he became a football player. How about the country where you became a person? He developed as a player in Holland, sure, but without the foundation before the age of 12 he wouldn't be anywhere. Regardless of what state the CSA is in, he is a Canadian and should play for Canada.

He is not alone, of course. Brazilians currently play on several different national teams, as well as other countries, this also should not occur, although those players were, in most cases, were passed over by their native lands before choosing to play for their adopted nations.

If this is allowed than they should stop flying the flags when these teams play. Why don't they just let countries start making transfers? Surely that is the next step

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Pete
Posted on:
June 25, 2009 at 3:22 pm

I don't know why people get so burned about a player choosing to play for another country, especially a country with a real development program. The real issue is the CSA. We need to admit we have a crap program. And it has been crap for a long time. If you are a young player with talent, and another country's academies have put a lot of money into your development, as a player you will feel a sense of gratitude for the opportunity you have been given and for a level of development you most likely would not have received in Canada. Before we start jumping on these players, we should criticize the CSA and their incompetence in the development of a world class level soccer program in Canada.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Clint Lalonde
Posted on:
June 25, 2009 at 3:54 pm

Well, one could argue the other side just as easily – that the youth
systems these players played in when they were young were in Canada.

I think Canada and (give them credit) the CSA does a fair job of
getting kids into and playing the sport. More kids in this country
play soccer than hockey. But something happens at that pivotal age in
the mid teens when the kids with true talent begin to emerge. At that
point is when they begin to move into other youth systems around the
world because they see something lacking with the Canadian system.

At any rate, one has to wonder if this situation is going to repeat
itself again very soon with Asmir Begovic, the talented keeper playing
for Portsmouth in the EPL. He played for Canada's U20 team at the last
World Cup, but is also eligible to play internationally for Bosnia. It
appears Bosnia is knocking at his door.